1. Technical Field
The present invention is generally directed to digital map systems. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a choice of one particular landmark to represent a plurality of landmarks in close proximity to each other when only one of the landmarks can be displayed on a particular view of a digital map.
2. Description of Related Art
Digital maps are digital images that are generated from one or more sources of map data. Since the images are digital, different resolutions of the images may be displayed at any time. For example, when the digital image is first displayed to a user, it is displayed at a first resolution. If the user decides to have a better view of the displayed image at a particular location point, the user may zoom in onto that location point. The digital image will then be expanded at that location point and displayed at a second resolution. If the user later zooms half way out from the location point, the view of the image may then be compressed and displayed at a third resolution.
When the user zooms in onto the location point, detailed information at that location point is generally displayed on the map. As an example, in the case where there is a plurality of landmarks in close proximity to each other within a geographical area, the landmarks may be represented each by a location point placed one on top of another at a particular resolution of the image. When a user zooms in on that geographical area on the map, the location points may be separated from each other on the resulting view of the digital image.
Generally, when a plurality of landmarks is represented by location points placed one on top of another on a view of a digital map, one landmark is usually chosen by the digital map designer as a representative landmark for the plurality of landmarks. If the chosen landmark is a business for example, the name of the business may be displayed on the view of the digital map at that geographical area.
Sometimes, however, a user may want a different landmark to be the representative landmark for the plurality of landmarks. For example, oftentimes users employ landmarks that are well-known to them as points of reference to orient themselves as well as to direct a person to a location (i.e., down the street from Target, across the street from Walmart or a couple of stores from Mailboxes etc.). If the representative landmark chosen by the software designer is not one that is known to the user, the user may have difficulty orienting himself or herself, for instance, when viewing the digital map.